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A A A A A A A A A A A A A A kX< 

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ORDER OF EXERCISES FOR THE COM- 
MEMORATION OF THE TERCENTENARY 
OF THE BIRTH OF JOHN MILTON, AT 
THE FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON, ON 
DECEMBER NINTH, 1908, AT 4 O'CLOCK 



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f ofm Milton 

Bom in London, December g y 1608 

Three poets, in three distant ages born, 
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. 
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed; 
The next, in majesty ; in both, the last. 
The force of Nature could no further go ; 
To make a third, she joined the other two. 

"John Dry den, "Under Mr, Milton'' s Picture 




JOHN MILTON AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE 

From the portrait at Nuneham 



Artier of Certifies 



ORGAN PRELUDE. "Largo." Handel 

Mr. Arthur Foote 

Organist and Musical Director 

" VENITE." Chant by Henry Lawes 

Henry Lawes, the friend of Milton, to whom one of Milton s sonnets is 
addressed, was the composer of the music for "Comus" and "Arcades" 

INVOCATION. Reverend James DeNormandie, D.D. 



CHORUS from "The Nativity." John Knowles Paine 

The words from Milton* s hymn "On the Morning of Christ" s Nativity" 

Ring out, ye crystal spheres ! 

Once bless our human ears, — 

If ye have power to touch our senses so, — 

And let your silver-chime 

Move in melodious time, 

And let the base of heaven's deep organ blow; 

And with your nine-fold harmony 

Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. 

For if such holy song 

Enwrap our fancy long, 

Time will run back, and fetch the Age of Gold ; 

And speckled Vanity 

Will sicken soon and die, 

And leprous Sin will melt from earthly mould ; 

And Hell itself will pass away, 

And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day. 

Yea, Truth and Justice then 

Will down return to men, 

Orb'd in a rainbow, and like glories wearing ; 

Mercy will sit between, 

Throned in celestial sheen, 

With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering ; 

And Heaven, as at some festival, 

Will open wide the gates of her high palace-hall. 



READING OF SELECTIONS FROM MILTON AND OF 
WORDSWORTH'S SONNET ON MILTON. 

Bliss Perry, L.H.D. 



HYMN. Milton 

From Milton' s paraphrase of Psalm Ixxxiv. Sung to the tune of 
"York" composed by Milton* s father 



How lovely are thy dwellings fair ! 

O Lord of hosts, how dear 
The pleasant tabernacles are 

Where thou dost dwell so near ! 

My soul doth long and almost die 
Thy courts, O Lord, to see ; 

My heart and flesh aloud do cry, 
O living God, for thee. 



Happy who in thy house reside, 

Where thee they ever praise ; 
Happy whose strength in thee doth bide, 

And in their hearts thy ways. 

They journey on from strength to strength. 
With joy and gladsome cheer, 

Till all before our God at length 
In Zion do appear. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Charles Francis Adams, LL.D. 



ADDRESS. 



William Everett, LL.D. 



CHORUSES from "Samson." 

The words for Handel's oratorio of "Samson," produced in London in 
I743> were compiled by New burgh Hamilton, mainly from Milton's 
"Samson Agonist es," "Hymn on the Nativity," and "At a Solemn 
Music k" 

II. 



Handel 



[With alto solo] 

Return, O God of Hosts ! 
Behold thy servant in distress ! 
To dust his glory they would tread, 
And number him among the dead. 



Fixed in his everlasting seat, 
Jehovah rules the world in state ; 
His thunder roars, 
Heaven shakes, and earth's aghast. 
The stars, with deep amaze, 
Remain in steadfast gaze — 
Jehovah is of gods the first and last. 



HYMN. 



Milton 



From Milton' s paraphrase of Psalm cxxxvi. Sung to the tune of "Nuremberg! 
composed by Milton's contemporary , Johann Rudolph Able 



Let us, with a gladsome mind, 
Praise the Lord, for he is kind ; 
For his mercies aye endure, 
Ever faithful, ever sure. 



His chosen people he did bless, 
In the wasteful wilderness ; 
For his mercies aye endure, 
Ever faithful, ever sure. 



Let us blaze his name abroad, 
For of gods he is the God ; 
For his mercies aye endure, 
Ever faithful, ever sure. 



Let us, therefore, warble forth 
His mighty majesty and worth ; 
For his mercies aye endure, 
Ever faithful, ever sure. 



Let us, with a gladsome mind, 
Praise the Lord, for he is kind ; 
For his mercies aye endure, 
Ever faithful, ever sure. 



BENEDICTION. 



Reverend Charles Edwards Park 



ORGAN POSTLUDE. 



bonnets ftp JMton 

On His Being Arrived at the Age of Twenty -three 

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, 

Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year! 

My hasting days fly on with full career, 

But my late spring no bud or blossom sheweth. 

Perhaps my semblance may deceive the truth, 
That I to manhood am arrived so near; 
And inward ripeness doth much less appear, 
That some more timely-happy spirits indueth. 

Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow, 

It shall be still in strictest measure even 
To that same lot, however mean or high, 

Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven. 
All is, if I have grace to use it so, 
As ever in my great Task-masters eye. 



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On His Blindness 

When I consider how my light is spent 

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, 
And that one talent, which is death to hide, 
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 

To serve therewith my Maker, and present 

My true account, lest He, returning, chide; 
" Doth God exact day-labour, light denied ? " 
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent 

That murmur, soon replies, " God doth not need 

Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best 
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state 

Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed, 

And post o'er land and ocean, without rest ; 
They also serve who only stand and wait." 



To Cyriack Sk 



inner 



Cyriack, this three-years-day these eyes, though clear, 

To outward view, of blemish or of spot, 

Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot ; 

Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear 
Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year, 

Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not 

Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 

Of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer 
Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask ? 

The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied 

In Liberty's defence, my noble task, 
Of which all Europe rings from side to side. 

This thought might lead me through the world's vain mask, 
Content, though blind, had I no better guide. 



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Wovb$\x>Qtfy8 bonnet on Hilton 

Milton ! thou should'st be living at this hour : 
England hath need of thee : she is a fen 
Of stagnant waters : altar, sword, and pen, 

Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, 

Have forfeited their ancient English dower 

Of inward happiness. We are selfish men ; 
Oh ! raise us up, return to us again ; 

And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. 

Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart : 

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea 
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, 

So didst thou travel on life's common way, 
In cheerful godliness ; and yet thy heart 

The lowliest duties on herself did lay. 



I DENY not but that it is of greatest concernment, in the church and 
commonwealth, to have a vigilant eye how books demean them- 
selves, as well as men ; ... for books are not absolutely dead things, 
but do contain a progeny of life in them to be as active as that soul was 
whose progeny they are ; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest 
efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know 
they are as lively and as vigorously productive as those fabulous 
dragon's teeth, and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up 
armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as 
good almost kill a man as kill a good book : who kills a man kills a 
reasonable creature, God's image ; but he who destroys a good book 
kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye. Many 
a man lives a burden to the earth ; but a good book is the precious 
life-blood of a master spirit. 

Lords and commons of England! Consider what nation it is 
whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the governors : a nation not slow 
and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit; acute to invent, 
subtile and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point the 
highest that human capacity can soar to. . . . Behold now this vast 
city, a city of refuge, the mansion-house of liberty, encompassed and 
surrounded with his protection ; the shop of war hath not there more 
anvils and hammers working, to fashion out the plates and instruments 
of armed justice in defence of beleaguered truth, than there be pens and 
heads there, sitting by their studious lamps, musing, searching, revolv- 
ing new notions and ideas wherewith to present, as with their homage 
and fealty, the approaching reformation ; others as fast reading, trying 
all things, assenting to the force of reason and convincement. . . . 
Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity wiil be much 
arguing, much writing, many opinions ; for opinion in good men is but 
knowledge in the making. Under these fantastic terrors of sect and 
schism, we wrong the earnest and zealous thirst after knowledge and 
understanding, which God hath stirred up in this city. 

Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing 
herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks ; 
methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, and kindling 
her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam ; purging and unsealing her 
long-abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance ; while the 
whole noise of timorous and flocking birds, with those also that love 
the twilight, flutter about, amazed at what she means. 

Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon 
the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and 
prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple ; 
whoever knew truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter? . . . 
For who knows not that truth is strong, next to the Almighty ; she 
needs no policies, no stratagems, nor licensings to make her victorious ; 
those are the shifts and the defences that error uses against her power. 

— From the "Areopagitkay 




JOHN MILTON 

From the original portrait by Faithorne in the possession of Str Robert H. Hobart 




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POEMS 

OF 

Mr. fohn ttMihon , 
BOTH- 
ENGLISH and LATIN, 

Composed at feveral times. 

^Printed by his true Copes m 

The Songs were fet in Mufick by- 
Mr. Henry Lawes Gentleman of 
the Kings Chappel, and one 
of His Maiesties 
Private Mufick. 

Baccate frontem 

Cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua fat tiro? 
Virgil, Eclog. 7. 

Printed and publijb'd according to 
ORDER. 

LOND ON, 

Printed by Ruth Ratyorth for Humphrey Mofiley^ 

and are to be fold at the (igne of the Princes 

Arms in Pauls Church-yaxd. 164$. 



Title-page of the first collective edition of Milton's Minor Poems, with the rare 
portrait by Marshall, 1 6 45 



Paradife loft 

A 

POEM 

Written in 

TEN BOOKS 

By JOHN MILTON. 



Licenfed and Entred according 
to Order. 



LONDON 

Printed; and are to be fold by Peter Parker 

under Creed Church neer Aldgate 5 And by 

Robert Boulter at the Tmkj Htai in Bifhof(gati-/lr<tt j 

And. Mmhitu Wdkgt , under St. Dmftmr Church. 

in Tleei-jkea, 166-;. ' 



Full-size facsimile of the title-page of the first edition of "Paradise Lost 



PARADISE 

REGAIND. 

A 

POEM. 

In IV <B K^S. 

To which is added 

SJMSO&C JQO PISTES. 



The Author 
JOHN MILTON. 



L ON DON, 

Printed by J. M for John Starkly at the 
Mitre in Fleetjlreet y near Temple-Bar. 
MDCLXXI. 

Full-size facsimile of the title-page of the first edition of "Paradise Regained" 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 152 111 1 # 



Printed by 
THOMAS TOL 
BOSTON 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

I lii III 



014 152 111 1 



